Davido and our youths

The Nigerian music scene – just like every other around the world – often throws up musicians who become stars overnight. The industry is highly competitive because it takes creativity, dexterity and a stubborn staying power to remain relevant. One of the musicians that burst onto the scene like a comet is David Adedeji Adeleke otherwise known by his stage name Davido.

Davido is a silver spoon American-born Nigerian who blazed to the scene with his 2011 single, “Dami Duro,” which was well-received throughout Nigeria. Along with his elder brother Adewale Adeleke, he is the co-owner of HKN Music (a record label home to Sina Rambo, B. Red and DeeKay). He has produced for numerous artists, including Naeto C, Skales, Tiwa Savage and Sauce Kid.

In April 2012, he signed an endorsement deal with MTN Nigeria. On October 23, 2013, he partnered with Guinness for the “Guinness World of More” concert. He is also an award winning musician with a BET Award, a Kora Award, a Channel O Music Video Award, a Ghana Music Award, a Nigeria Music Video Award, two MTV Africa Music Awards, two African Muzik Magazine Awards, five the Headies Awards, seven Nigeria Entertainment Awards and two Dynamix All Youth Awards, among others.

I admire Davido for remaining “level headed” by completing his music degree programme from Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State recently. I know of other musicians and artists who dropped out of school when fame beyond their imagination beckoned, but against all odds Davido managed to sail through.

But he has been on the wrong side of things lately following the release of his controversial and drug laced narrative music video “Fans Mi” where he collaborated with American hip hop artist Meek Mills (Robert Rahmeek Williams).

I was compelled to watch the video online after listening to a heated argument between some youths at a shopping mall in Lagos. While some see “nothing wrong” with the music video, majority of them disagreed with the drug and gun theme of the narrative. Since I had not watched the video before the argument, I had to only listen to the various points made.

When I eventually watched the video, my initial impression was that Davido went overboard this time. From the first view, you’ll be assailed by lots of cash displayed on a table with several types of guns. As if that is not bad enough, near naked women dance provocatively in almost every scene of the video. It had over 1.2 million hits on You Tube when I watched it.

Pushing the boundaries for artistic expression beyond the normal has always been a part of popular music. However, the drive for profits may also be pushing the envelope of what is acceptable which made the story-line of the video untenable.

In it, Davido tries to seal a deal with a drug dealer to supply cocaine while the dealer hands him a briefcase loaded with dollar bills to seal the transaction. Davido then goes back to his mansion where he can be seen aided by the brassieres-and-panties flaunting ladies preparing the cocaine. It is not until the end of the video that we get to see that the cocaine Davido delivered to the drug dealer may have been “semovita” or “poundo yam.”

Even if this storyline is assumed, what do we make of the guns – including an assault rifle lying comfortable in front of him – at a time violent crime is on the rise in Nigeria, not to mention the mindless killings going on the US as a result of easy asses to guns? The recent being the Charlotte killing in a church where nine people were gunned down in cold blood during Bible study. The implication is that some misguided youths may see the guns as ‘cool’ toys to have and use when “necessary,” it is about this group that I’m concerned.

Soon after the music video was released, the Sunday Telegraph reported on June 28 that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s (NDLEA) Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, said, “The agency considers the musical video ‘Fans Mi’ inappropriate and indecent. It has the tendency to negatively influence and induce drug use and trafficking.”

Music videos are a powerful medium because they combine the energy of music with the power of visual images. While we often don’t pay a lot of attention to the lyrics of our favourite songs, the visual images that accompany the same music on TV or the Internet have a much greater impact because they are impossible to ignore.

In an advanced country like Canada, radio stations will not play music with explicit lyrics, but we are in the age of the internet where young people can easily access music by controversial artists by watching their music videos online.

Music videos have frequently been criticised for heavily sexualised portrayals of women. There is hardly any without women. A 2012 study found that this was common even when the musicians themselves were female. For youth with a healthy self-image and varied interests, music probably has little or no influence on their values and lifestyle choices. However, violent, racist or sexist lyrics in music may impact some youths. Numerous researches have shown possible correlations between young people’s preference for certain musical genres and risky behaviours.

There is research evidence that listening to music with sexual content in the lyrics makes teenagers more likely to start having sex earlier than their peers. Music also contains a lot of commercial content, mostly in the form of product or substance placement (both in lyrics and in videos), much of which is for alcohol and drugs.

People of all ages listen to music because it provides pleasure. For adolescents especially, the pleasure can be intense and tends to be associated with the most intense, “peak” experiences of life. The reason for this is not farfetched because music promotes experiences of the extreme for its makers and listeners, turning the perilous emotional edges, vulnerabilities, triumphs, celebrations, and antagonisms of life into hypnotic, reflective tempos that can be experienced privately or shared with others.

Given the importance of music and its central role in youths, it is clear that it has a number of important effects. Yet although there has been concern for decades about possible deleterious effects of popular music, for most children, the effects are not deleterious.

Some have suggested that while the emotional uses of popular music are important, the social uses and meanings provide the real key to understanding its niche in the lives of youths. Most of the criticism aimed at current popular music stems from the assumption that “content” (i.e., the attitudes, values, and behaviours portrayed in lyrics) may influence how young listeners think and act. Not surprisingly, it is a concern that emphasises the negatives, such as violence, misogyny, racism, suicide, Satanism, and substance abuse. Music has become more aggressive and edgy over the decades. Things have really changed.

In 1958, for instance, the Everly Brothers sang, “When I want you in my arms, all I have to do is dream.” In 1986, the message had been simplified to, “Hey, we want some pu—y” by a group known as 2 Live Crew. From then, things went haywire. We read and saw what violent music did to American society in the era of “gangster rap” when the likes of Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG were gunned down in “gangster rap” related rivalry.

Several decades of communication research shows quite clearly that lyric interpretation is as much a process of construction as of recognition or discovery. Thus, what young people make of popular songs depends not only on what the lyric brings to them, but also on what they bring to the lyric.

Music, no doubt, is one of the best things out there, but the constant explicit language, guns, sexual references, and rebellious behaviour makes rap, pop and contemporary music genres harbingers of severe negative influences. Most glamorise sex, drugs and alcohol abuse. This is where the problem lies and why Davido missed it with “Fans Mi.”